Quick Step "Move" Function not working on new Outlook

Question

Quick Step "Move" Function not working on new Outlook

John-George Gittins 45

Our organisation has a Microsoft 365 account. I was using quick step on the new outlook to "Mark as read" and "Move" to a specific folder with no issue. About a day or two ago, my quick step (that was working perfectly) was greyed out and I could no longer use the quick step. I tried to delete and recreate the step many time. I created a few other that are still working and noticed as soon as I add the move step, it does not work.

John-George Gittins 45 Reputation points

2025-12-09T06:46:20.7633333+00:00

If I specify a specific folder which it needs to be moved to, the quick step works. If I select "Always ask for folder" then the quick step is greyed out
John-George Gittins 45 Reputation points

2025-12-09T06:47:01.7533333+00:00

If I specify a specific folder which it needs to be moved to, the quick step works. If I select "Always ask for folder" then the quick step is greyed out

Answer accepted by question author

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John-George Gittins 45 Reputation points

2025-12-09T06:46:20.7633333+00:00

If I specify a specific folder which it needs to be moved to, the quick step works. If I select "Always ask for folder" then the quick step is greyed out
John-George Gittins 45 Reputation points

2025-12-09T06:47:01.7533333+00:00

If I specify a specific folder which it needs to be moved to, the quick step works. If I select "Always ask for folder" then the quick step is greyed out

Answer 1

Tamara-Hu 8,635 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello @John-George Gittins,

Thank you for posting your valuable question on Microsoft Q&A forum.

Based on your description, I performed testing in my environment and reviewed related documentation. Here are the key observations:

When a Quick Step includes “Move to > Always ask for folder”, it appears greyed out in both the new Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the Web.
Quick Steps configured with a specific folder continue to work as expected.
This aligns with the explanation shared in the discussion: Problems with Quick Steps in Outlook New | Microsoft Community Hub -> Quick Steps are disabled when an action cannot be applied to the currently selected email. In this case, dynamic folder selection within Quick Steps is not currently fully supported.
It also likely relates to the fact that the new Outlook provides a Move feature in the toolbar, which already supports dynamic folder selection.

Here are some options you can consider for your scenario:

Use the Move button for flexible folder selection:

Select the email(s) you want to move.
Click Move in the toolbar.
Choose a folder from the dropdown or type the folder name in the search box. You can also create a new folder here.

User's image

(Optional) Pin frequently used folders by clicking the pin icon next to the folder name for quicker access.

Create Quick Steps for commonly used folders: For example: “Mark as Read > Move to Project A.”

While Quick Step functionality may evolve in future updates, the Move button currently provides the efficient alternative for dynamic folder selection.

If you’d like this feature improved in future releases, I recommend submitting feedback and upvoting existing requests on the Outlook Feedback Portal: Outlook · Community. The Product Team is in-charge of the feedback site, and they are constantly checking the comments and feedback from our customer. Many features have been developed or improved based on users' comment.

After submitting your request, you can share the link here so others can upvote and help bring more attention to it. Microsoft prioritizes changes based on user impact and feedback volume.

In the meantime, you can check Microsoft 365 Roadmap for updating features in the future. I will also forward your feedback to the appropriate team for further consideration.

Please note that Q&A forum moderators do not have access to backend systems or the ability to change app behavior directly. Our role is to assist based on available documentation and guidance from Microsoft based on our knowledge.

We genuinely appreciate your feedback and share your goal of making Outlook better and more user-friendly.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

John-George Gittins 45 Reputation points

2025-12-09T08:51:33.0766667+00:00

Thank you for your response.

What is interesting is that this quick step that I setup was working perfectly in the new outlook and a few days ago it stoped.

But that you for the response
Tamara-Hu 8,635 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-12-09T09:05:56.04+00:00
Hello @John-George Gittins,

Thank you for your kind words.

Could you confirm whether the Quick Steps you set up, which are working perfectly, include the “Always ask for folder” option?

If not, this behavior may be expected in the current version of New Outlook, as I’ve observed the same option grayed out in my testing environment when selected.

If the “Always ask for folder” option worked correctly before, I recommend reaching out to the Technical Support Team, as I’ve checked my resources for any advisories or known incidents related to this issue but couldn’t find any.

Their specialists can perform deeper diagnostics and, if needed, escalate the case to the appropriate internal team for further analysis. This ensures the issue is formally tracked and may contribute to a future fix.

For business support:

Find your Microsoft 365 admin: If you don't know who the global admin is in your organization, you can find guidance here: How can I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support

Submit a service request: The Global Administrator should create a support request with Microsoft to receive advanced technical assistance. For detailed instructions, see: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn

If your organization's Office 365 Business/Education subscription is from a partner or reseller, and the global administrator is unable to open a service request on your end, contact the reseller's support provider to help open a service request on behalf of you instead.

If you discover any solutions or have additional insights, please consider replying to this thread to help others in the community.

If you need further assistance or support on this process, feel free to reply. I'm here and happy to help!
John-George Gittins 45 Reputation points

2025-12-09T09:15:57.0466667+00:00

Hi Tamara,

I can confirm that it was working when the move step was specified to "Always ask for folder" as I use this on a daily bases.
Tamara-Hu 8,635 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-12-09T09:23:54.4233333+00:00

Hi @John-George Gittins,

Thanks for your confirmation.

In this case, I recommend reaching out to the Technical Support Team for a more in-depth analysis. Your input could help drive future improvements to this feature.

If you need any further assistance with this support process, please feel free to tag me, I’ll be happy to help! Thank you for your understanding and for the effort you’ve put into resolving this issue.

In the meantime, please continue using the Move feature, as it’s functioning as expected. If I receive any updates regarding this feature, I’ll follow up with you as soon as possible.

Wishing you a great day!
Steve 0 Reputation points

2025-12-09T09:34:09.17+00:00

I'm getting exactly the same problem as of today (same date as original comment), so this seems to be a new problem that has started today. I similar quicksteps to John-George and they are fundamental to managing email quickly, so I hope this is fixed and normal functionality returns quickly.
Marieke 0 Reputation points

2025-12-09T13:03:20.9966667+00:00

I have the same problem today. And the option, 'plan with copilot' doesn't work eather.
The suggestion to choose 'Move' is not very helpfull, because it's another action to do.
All-in options in quick step is better. And i hope you can fixe it.
Tamara-Hu 8,635 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-12-09T15:38:33.0533333+00:00

Thank you everyone, for the information. If I have any updates regarding the issues you mentioned, I’ll return and post a follow-up in this thread.

In the meantime, you can try to contact the Microsoft Support Team with the steps I provided above.

Since other users are experiencing similar issues, you can ask your organization’s Microsoft 365 administrator to report the problem, provided you’re using a work or school account (where your company or school name appears in the domain). Reports submitted by administrators provide greater visibility and can help Microsoft better understand the scope of the issue, leading to faster resolution. Instructions on how to find your Microsoft 365 admin can be found here: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin?

Your feedback not only helps other users who are experiencing the same issue, but also contributes to helping Microsoft identify and resolve issues more quickly. By sharing detailed information and reporting through appropriate channels, you can help improve the overall quality and stability of the Word app.

Thank you for raising this issue and helping us improve the product for the better for the entire community.
Daniel 0 Reputation points

2025-12-09T19:22:45.2433333+00:00

I am having the same issue (as of two days ago). Similarly, I used a quick step to mark an email as read and move into a folder (which I could select each time). I had another quick step which marked an email as read, moved it to a folder (specified each time) and created a task in "To Do" within Outlook. Neither of these functions work anymore. They were very useful and losing them has significantly disrupted my work. Please fix these.
Deibert, Andreas - TPH 0 Reputation points

2025-12-10T08:41:25.34+00:00

I’m experiencing the same issue—Quick Steps were working fine a few days ago, but since December 9th, they have stopped functioning.

The suggested solution of moving files to a folder without Quick Steps is not a viable workaround, as the purpose of Quick Steps is to perform multiple actions at once.

Could you please investigate this issue and provide a proper resolution? Let me know if you need any additional details from my side.

Thank you for your support.
Joost Leenders 0 Reputation points

2025-12-10T10:21:30.1+00:00

Same issue here, very annoying as I used this quick step all the time to organize my mailbox. I agree with Andreas, the proposed workaround is not usefull as it requires multiple steps and actions and is by that missing the purpose of a Quick Step indeed.
Bici Alba 0 Reputation points

2025-12-10T13:05:14.44+00:00

Hi all,

I am having the same issue as well.

The benefit of the quick step is not only in terms of productivity, that you save time, by making less steps in less time, but from a user experience point of view with the quick step functionality, you could use only one hand to move mails on certain folders simply by using the keyboard.

@Tamara-Hu and microsoft team, have you ever thought that not all people around the world have 2 hands?

Using the "move" button that is on the ribbon menu allows user to make more steps, hence loose productivity and you are obliged to use the mouse, you cannot use the keyboard.I kindly ask you and your team to reconsider this non performing functionality that is inactive since the beginning of this week 50 (2025).

Thank you.

Sincerely,

A
Matteo Buzzi 0 Reputation points

2025-12-11T14:10:16.4266667+00:00

Ciao all, I can confirm I have the same problem since beg of this week so align with what you guys reported
Brad Violand 0 Reputation points

2025-12-11T20:55:07.1266667+00:00

I am also experiencing this issue - very frustrating and hope it's just a bug that gets fixed and not removed by design.

Answer 2

Thank you all for sharing your feedback.

As moderators, we don’t have the ability to directly change the behavior of the Outlook app or its features. I’ve checked Microsoft’s service health and incident resources, and there are currently no reported issues related to Quick Steps.

To make sure your concerns reach the right team, please report this to the Microsoft Product team through one of these official channels:

Feedback in the app: Go to Help > Feedback in Outlook and submit your comments.
Microsoft Feedback Portal: Send feedback to Microsoft with the Feedback Hub app
Contact Support: they can escalate the issue to a specialized team for deeper analysis.
Report an Issue: Ask your organization's admin to report the issue through Microsoft 365 admin center > Health > Service Health > Report an issue.

Your suggestions help improve the product for everyone, and we appreciate your effort in sharing them. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience.

Inger Christensen 10 Reputation points

2025-12-12T08:36:53.5966667+00:00

I have created a public feedback. Upvote to get the visibility. https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/49f60f53-35d7-f011-ad8f-7c1e529694f5

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Quick Step "Move" Function not working on new Outlook

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